


White Portuguese

by UnderTheFridge



Category: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Decisions, Blackmail, Lex being a little bastard, M/M, Manipulation, Non-Explicit Sex, Organized Crime, The Author Regrets Everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-09 22:38:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11678529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderTheFridge/pseuds/UnderTheFridge
Summary: Five times Anatoli Knyazev failed to negotiate with Lex Luthor (Jr.), and one time he just about managed it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter takes place before the events of BvS - many years before, when Lex is just a bab and Anatoli is a rebellious criminal teenager working for Luthor Sr.. So there's no adult content, but be warned for implied child abuse.  
> (The other 5 are all within the BvS timeline, when Lex is old enough to want to climb Russian gangsters like a tree, and bold enough to express it....)

The boy streaks into the room silently like a scampering mouse - if he hadn’t seen the flicker of movement in the mirror, Anatoli wouldn’t have known about it.

“Hey.” He turns from the dresser and searches briefly. The boy is next to the wardrobe, pressed against the side. Not  _ in _ the wardrobe; it’s locked, as are the dresser drawers. Anatoli’s belongings are spilling out of his suitcase on the floor. Everywhere in this place, doors are locked.

“Get out.”

The boy stares back, wide-eyed but quiet, and doesn’t move. Anatoli thinks about grabbing him, and it must show in his body because the boy flinches, shoving himself further back into the corner.

“Get out. Go.” He clamps a hand on the boy’s bony shoulder, ignoring the fresh signet ring hurting dully. “Or I will tell to your father.”

The boy goes rigid at that.

“No,” he mutters. “Please.”

“Please,  _ what _ ?”

“Please don’t tell him.”

Not what Anatoli was after, but it’s a logical answer.

“Why not? Give me reason why I should not….”

The boy chews his lip. His eyes are bright with what might be tears.

“You let me in. You know I’m not allowed and you permitted me access to your room. It’s after midnight and you should have your door locked. You’ll get in  _ trouble _ .” The last is whispered harshly, with the ultimate conviction of a child - and a degree of hope.

“And you will not? Is your plan?”

At least he’s honest. Anatoli has about two feet in height and ten years in age on this child - he must be eight, nine? - but he’s so sure that he can talk his way out of this.

“Are you so scared? Why?”

And just like that, he hears a door slam further down the corridor, and a voice like the crashing of a wave in a deep shore cavern.

“ALEXANDER!”

The boy shakes his head, frantically, and that convinces Anatoli more than a string of precocious words ever could. A chill goes down his spine. He moves quickly away from the wardrobe and opens his door.

“Mr Luthor? Sir?”

“Have you seen my son?” The demand is immediate.

“No, sir. Did he come here?”

“He went this way, I know it.”

“Would I hear him?” He gestures at the thick carpet, the wood-panelled walls. “I have not heard anything.”

“No…” Luthor Sr. says wearily, as if the pursuit of Lex is a necessary chore. “Very well. Lock your door - and if the little brat comes knocking, don’t let him in.”

“Of course, sir.”

He marches away into the gloom of the mansion. Anatoli locks the door, and up-ends a chair against it for good measure, and lays a weapon on the table nearby. He’s not exactly sure why, but he’s suddenly worried about someone - something - breaking in.

“You heard him,” he says to what appears to be an empty room. “This is locked.”

He doesn’t know where Lex spends the night, once the light is turned out, but leaves a blanket off the bed for him.


	2. Chapter 2

“If you wanted to fuck, you just have to say.”

“Oh.” Lex shuts up. It does floor him, for a moment, his carefully constructed manipulations falling apart. Like a football through a house of cards. He’s spent all evening thinking he wasn’t getting anywhere. “Well, erm. Yes. If that’s so… then - yes.”

They pull together, mutually and with minimum fuss, and suddenly hands are everywhere at once and Lex can’t seem to get their faces to meet but that’s alright, until he’s sitting on Knyazev’s lap and the pants are almost off already but he wants -.

“Hey, hang on. Wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwait….” Everything stops; Knyazev is still holding him gently. He isn’t panicking, but fluttering. He isn’t scared. This isn’t scary, just not ideal. “Why not the bed?”

This is how he wants it to happen - on the bed. And he’s damned if it’s going to be otherwise, but he still smiles and strokes and says “I’d just prefer it,” as if he’s giving a choice.

Knyazev shrugs and stands, levering Lex along with him. A tiny jewel of information can be stored away for later: he doesn’t care about location.That’s a world of possibilities to be explored. Right now, he’s throwing his jacket down and starting down the buttons of his shirt; rapidly, but not hastily. Businesslike. Lex follows suit - no point in a striptease, he’s barely even looking - and finally manages to hook him in for a kiss as soon as they’re free of clothing. Keeping him there is more of a challenge, along with backing up towards the bed and retrieving the things in the bedside drawer. Lex has to turn around for the latter and is delighted at the press against his back, the insistence of another body wanting what he’s got. He likes the idea of this man on a leash, a physical one, but Knyazev will never agree to that. (Not immediately, anyway. He’ll have to bring it up at some point.) For now, this is it, and all his doing; he owns this time; he’ll use this to please himself. A  _ luxury  _ that would make Father’s lip curl.

Falling - being pushed - onto the bed on his hands and knees is enough to banish thoughts of his father (always a mood-killer). Breath on the back of his neck, a hand at his waist and another slipping down the base of his spine, cool and slick.

“Oh, come on. Are you waiting? What are you waiting for?”

The burn is fairly intense. Lex feels that maybe he  _ should _ have waited a little longer. Though it won’t take long for it to be at least comfortable, and then -  _ then _ that’s what he’s talking about.

\--

It might be his imagination, or there might be a soft kiss laid between his shoulder blades as they relax, breathing hard and fast in the sudden silence of the room. Lex drops his forehead to the pillow and half-expects to hear his father’s thundering footsteps along the corridor like the approach of an express train, an earthquake, a tsunami, too fast to hide away and the door flung open and the roar of  _ NOISE _ , of  _ boys should be SEEN not HEARD _ \- and he shivers back to reality alone and barely believes it; how much time has gone?

A couple of minutes at most, and the shower is just about audible. That’s where Knyazev is. Lex hasn’t been abandoned. Mercy tells him he has  _ issues  _ about that, and he snaps back that he  _ knows _ , it’s not exactly  _ secret _ . Just don’t do it; that’s all he asks. What could be simpler?

“Haha, don’t you  _ dare _ leave,” he says to the ceiling, sensing the collection of clothes. Knyazev drops them onto a chair instead - apparently about to wander through the mansion in just a towel - and discards the towel as well, coming to sit beside him. Lex rolls over to get a better look, just because he can. Nobody’s making him lower his eyes.

“What do you want?” It’s not accusatory, but not overly concerned either. The ideal balance.

“My desires are simple,” Lex says, enjoying the lack of false sympathy and also the non-expression on his pet gangster’s face. “And singular, actually, it’s only the one desire. Stay with me. Oh, I know you’ll want to leave, and go back to whatever... amusements you’ve got going on, and also because you’re just that kind of man - you know, I doubt if you’ve ever slept in the same room as someone you’ve fucked. How about that? It’s spooky, right? I’m right?”

“Does it count sharing a cell?” Knyazev says, and of course. Lex always forgets that they were both imprisoned, somewhere in the past. Maybe the Russian’s time will come again, when all is done - but not his. He intends to stay as free as a bird. So he isn’t squashed in with all his neuroses. There won’t be enough space. They’ll edge him out until there’s nothing left.

“Well, yes - but no, that was then and this is now, right? Right.”

“I have things to do. I will stay next time.” It would be more convincing if it was said with fondness, maybe a hand on the hair, a gentle smile - but it’s like he’s making a note in his diary.

Lex grins. “Next time, next time… no. I’m telling you to stay  _ this  _ time,” seizing him and drawing him in. “Come sleep next to me, and in case the nightmares - hm.” Lex might end up clinging to him like an octopus, if the dark figures insist on chasing him down the endless hallways again, but that’s not something to mention yet.

Credit where it’s due, Knyazev doesn’t comment on that. Lex snuggles deliberately into his hold and rests heavy on him, more comfortable than ever. And, like this, he can’t get away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for chronic illness (not based on any canon), and Lex being the worst about it.

“Trust. It’s a funny thing, isn’t it? Some people have so much to give… a bottomless well that never runs dry, and some have nothing. None at all! The well is parched. If I could somehow quantify it, make it tangible… we’d know exactly how much we could give away, how much to conserve for a rainy day - a bit here, a bit there, a lot for a friend, a little to a stranger… no no, I’m being fanciful. I’d still have none.”

Anatoli sighs, and his hands tighten on Lex’s hips. Lex wriggles in his grasp, feeling the rings dig into his skin.

“What were we talking about again?”

“It is a bad idea for me to go into the desert.”

“And then?”

“...You started climbing on me.”

“Ah, yes. Right.” He braces his back against the wall of his study; the ridges on the wood panels keep him from slipping too much. “Distracting you with sex so I don’t have to discuss this again.”

“And then you start talking about trust.”

“Well, isn’t it true? If there’s anyone I can trust, with this… it’s you.”

“I’m honoured,” Anatoli says, with heavy sarcasm. Lex hits him gently on the head. “I thought you didn’t want to discuss?”

“I’m not discussing. I’m telling you.” He rests his chin on Anatoli’s shoulder, and licks at the eight-point star there. “I’m giving you orders,” he breathes softly against skin. “How does that feel?”

“I don’t care.”

“That’s excellent. You’re going to Nairomi. Just - just wear a scarf over your face or something.”

He’s glad that there’s no counter-argument offered for that. He really doesn’t want to bring it up again.

\--

“And you didn’t think to tell me, until  _ now _ ?” He’s shrieking, angry, but he can see it now. It’s the posture, the pallor. He’d been distracted with how well things were going. But there’s always  _ something _ .

“I told you nothing.”

“But you thought you could hide it! Didn’t you? Hide it - from me! From everyone!”

“Who told you?”

“Oh, so now  _ that’s _ what you care about? Not the fact that you’re dying?”

“I’m not dying.”

“There is a sixty per cent mortality rate!” Lex exclaims, crashing a hand against the table hard enough to make it rattle. There’s too much tension is his body to touch anything safely. If he goes near the man now, he’ll strangle him. “Is that not enough for you? Two-thirds chance that you’ll  _ die _ within the next  _ year _ … let’s compare that, shall we, to - hm - a  _ one hundred per cent _ chance that you could RECOVER with the CORRECT TREATMENT - and a clue for you, the correct treatment is NOT telling NOBODY and WAITING FOR YOUR LUNGS TO FALL APART ON THEIR OWN!”

He takes a breath, clenches his fists, un-clenches them.

“I’m just trying to  _ help  _ you.”

“If I don’t need your help….”

“Oh no no, you  _ do _ need my help. I am offering you -  _ offering  _ you - some of the best doctors in the world. With the best antibiotics in the world, and who knows, maybe a few nobody even knows about yet, just in case. Within a year, you’ll be fine. That is what I’m offering you.”

“You are forcing me.”

“That’s an ugly word,” Lex says, bringing out his smile. “I’m not  _ forcing _ you to do anything. I’m  _ strongly suggesting _ that you take what I’m offering, and backing it up, if I may, with the  _ strong suggestion _ that if you don’t, you can say goodbye to whatever deal we’ve got going on here.” His voice drops. “There are plenty of others, you know. I can hire them. I can  _ burn it alllllll down _ and leave you to die.”

“You are blackmailing me.”

“I’m making. A.  _ Suggestion. _ ”

“Just like you did with the desert.”

Lex’s smile snaps in half. “At which point you COULD have TOLD ME what was WRONG WITH YOU, RATHER THAN SOME CRYPTIC COMMENTS ABOUT IT BEING BAD FOR YOUR CHEST do you know what that makes you sound like? Because it makes you sound like the kid with asthma who doesn’t like to run and gets picked last for the team and never wants to go outside and is condemned for the rest of his life to being a weak, pasty nerd. ‘ _ I brought this doctor's’ note so I don’t have do sports _ ’. THAT’S what you sound like.”

“It is not your business.”

“YOUR HEALTH IS ABSOLUTELY MY BUSINESS,” Lex thunders, and shocks himself into silence. He sounds like his father.

It takes him a full minute to compose himself, staring at his reflection in the clean glass surface of the table.

“I just want to  _ help  _ you.”

“You can hire someone else, you said it yourself. Why do you care?”

“Because  _ I want to help _ ,” Lex says, through gritted teeth. “I’m gonna have to do a whole lot of destroying, and… that’s ok. But sometimes I want to create. I want to heal. And you deserve to live - no, don’t say anything.”

“I deserve to live for as long as I am useful to you.”

Lex reacts as if stung.

“No, more than that! I don’t know how many years you have left, but my friend - you  _ deserve _ to spend them in good health. You really do. Now, you’re seeing a doctor tomorrow, she’ll explain everything. It’s a breeze, I promise. Now go.”

He waits until the door has closed before adding:

“And mainly, your cough is really,  _ really _ annoying.”


	4. Chapter 4

Nowadays, Lex finds, there’s almost nobody who remembers what his mother looked like. They remember impressions of her, maybe her voice or her clothes, but are hard-pressed to recall her face, her eyes, her smile. Only he has the photographs. Only he retains the image - faded as it was next to the sharp solidity of his towering father - and only he knows what she did for him.

Staying out of the public eye, she still claimed to enjoy the high life. And yes, she had nice things, but not nearly nice enough. Her husband was perhaps too in love with her (not that he was capable of love, in Lex’s opinion) to notice her squirrelling the money away. Offshore accounts; hundreds of thousands of dollars, building up to millions during her lifetime. All for her son, away from the tangled web of LexCorp property. His piggy bank.

He says a silent prayer to her as he uses it to hire mercenaries.

\--

“Kryptonite?”

“Yes,” Lex says, drumming his fingers against the table. “Kryptonite. Don’t tell me I have to tell you what it is. Superman’s been here for long enough.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“If you’re from Krypton - incredibly!”

“I am from Earth. Is it dangerous?”

That’s what he means, Lex realises, and laughs. They’ll be handling the stuff in a crate, like any other weapon. That’s what they’re worried about.

These men are smart, but also simple.

“To you? That’s your concern?” He adopted, from childhood, the American habit of a big toothy smile aimed directly at the face. And he knows Knyazev sees it as insincere, almost aggressive. He’d have better luck pointing a gun at the man. “No. I’m being honest. You could juggle the stuff - you could  _ eat _ , well maybe don’t  _ eat _ it, it does give off… radiation....” an eyebrow raise; the Russian is still unconvinced, “but nothing that a normal human needs to worry about. Seriously. I mean it. If you’re an all-powerful being from outer space then whoo, boy - but not you. A plain - old - unremarkable - human.”

They’re almost nose to nose. Lex gives a single blink before he steps back and wanders away across the room.

“This is still dangerous.”

“Oh, is it? Tell me. Tell me why. I’m listening.”

“If somebody intercepts us, it is still a weapon. A very destructive one, which you are not allowed to have.”

“That is literally what you do!” Lex throws up his hands. “Come on!”

“Not like this.”

“So this is a tough assignment for you. Big deal. I am  _ trying _ to construct the ultimate  _ deterrent _ against any form of Kryptonian  _ threat _ … and you’re complaining about a trip to the docks?  _ Please _ . What do you want, a raise?”

A pause, where they stare at each other.

“That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“No. I’m not giving you any more of my hard-earned wealth just because you’re scared of a lump of alien mineral. What do you want it for, health insurance?”

“The more risk we take, the more you have to pay. This is how it works.”

He’s trying to be firm, but does he have veto power? Could he actually, genuinely  _ refuse _ to do it? Lex needs some insurance of his own.

He sidles closer and lays a hand on Knyazev’s elbow. The touch is just harmless enough not to be shaken off.

“Please. You’ve been so good for me so far.  _ So good _ .” The words are weighted - they definitely have a regular thing going, whether his pet mercenary likes it or not. “I promise -  _ I promise _ that I’ll get you more. Of everything. When you bring that kryptonite home. If you were in my position, wouldn’t you do the same? You’d want to see the goods before the payment?” He waits long enough to force Knyazev to admit it, with a thinning of his lips and something that is barely a nod.

He’ll do it. He isn’t happy about it, but he’ll do it - like everything else he does now.

(Lex doesn’t invite him round that evening; simmering resentment is so  _ tiring _ to deal with.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because surely a certified dealer of illegal arms shipments would be able to get an illegal shipment into the country without resorting to 'very obvious secret evil meeting at the docks'?  
> \- AU where the kryponite comes in in broad daylight disguised as 'mineral samples' and is transported to the LexCorp research facility like any other shipment, with Dude In Bat Costume none the wiser, come on people let's make it happen.  
> (Ok maybe I'm a little *too* salty about these details.)


	5. Chapter 5

“Prometheus?”

“Yeah. You know. Brought fire down from the gods, etc., etc…..”

“Will they understand?”

“That doesn’t matter!” Lex resists the urge to throw a pen at him. He shrugs. Lex finishes the note with a flourish and leans over to lay the pad back down, only mildly distracted by the hands on his ass.

“Are you having any more ideas?”

“Well, let’s proceed, and see what  _ arises _ .” Lex bites the end of his pen, seductively, and then licks down the length. Knyazev doesn’t look particularly seduced. He’s still holding Lex’s backside in both hands, though. “You are coming?”

“...Not yet?”

“To the presentation,” Lex clarifies.

“Oh. No.”

Lex turns around in his lap and plants a secure grip on his shoulders. “I  _ invited _ you. Are you saying you don’t want to go? It’s for charity, you know. I gave a very very large amount of money to a very very good cause and now they want me to talk about it - because simply basking in my glory isn’t enough. They want to  _ see _ me, and maybe stroke me for luck. Maybe. I hope. Speaking of which….”

“I am not going.”

“Well, that’s just tough, isn’t it, because - and oh boy, I’ve been waiting to surprise you with this -,” he leans in close so their noses touch, “you don’t have a choice!”

His gleeful tone and subsequent howl of laughter makes Knyazev jump. Lex looks back down at a face which is far from amused, and it only makes him smile wider.

“Oh, come  _ on _ , you really thought I’d let you get away with that? You really did! We’re business partners, you and I, and business partners do everything together, which includes what possibly might be the most tedious evening of my  _ life _ , and you’ll be there!”

“You think you can force me?”

“I  _ know _ I can. Because, hm, well…” he bends and whispers something, dark and deadly.

The next thing he knows, he’s thrown aside, alone with the echoing slam of the door.

“Pick a nice tie for it!” Lex yells in the general direction of the corridor, and collapses into helpless giggles.


	6. +1

“Well, this is nice.”

No reply is forthcoming, so Lex goes back to pacing. Being ignored isn’t his style, so naturally he tries again: it’s not like they have to cautiously get to know each other through long bouts of companionable silence.

“You know, it’s interesting… I hear that they tried to get me a nice little transfer to a nice little place called Arkham Asylum. Me! In an asylum! I know some describe me as avant-garde, even eccentric… but an actual. Certified. Madhouse.  _ That’s _ insanity in itself, and thank goodness it’s in the jurisdiction of Metropolis and not Gotham because I know, I just  _ know _ , that Bruce ‘I’m a superhero not a furry’ Wayne has his grubby little paws all over this and he’d just about  _ love _ the chance to put me away with psychotic mass-murderers in stupid costumes, as if you’d catch me  _ dead _ wearing some of th-.”

“Shut up.”

“Excuse me?” Lex turns and blinks; there are always strong vibes of  _ please stop talking _ coming off the man, but he never, ever says it so bluntly.

“You heard me.” Anatoli turns a page of his book. He isn’t joking, either. Lex pretends he is, and smirks at him.

“Oh,  _ you _ . I mean I said to them - what, do I  _ look _ like a head case? Don’t answer that! My coping mechanisms may not exactly be healthy but I’m better than some and look, just  _ look _ , at all the good I’ve been able to do. In my father’s name, no less! It’s one thing I’ll never, ever be able to shake - his  _ shadow _ \- and I’ve come and made it something bright and progressive and….”

“Shut  _ up _ .” It’s not a request any more.

Lex opens his mouth again, and the look he receives almost makes him reconsider. Almost.

“Hey. That’s not fair, that’s - bordering on rude, even. Certainly not polite.”

Anatoli doesn’t even need to reply ‘do I look like I care?’, because it’s quite obvious he doesn’t. He drops from his bunk to the floor in one smooth movement. Lex waits patiently for him to approach and stop about a foot away, as usual. He doesn’t. Lex takes a step back, and then another, trying to get the space to evaluate, but his back hits the bars and he’s going nowhere. The noise outside is like a restless tide, carrying everyone with it. He gets the sudden urge to scream, and that’s what makes him shut his mouth. If he screams, nobody will come for him. This is one hundred percent certain. He will only join the howling chaos of this place.

“You will listen to me,” Anatoli says, and Lex looks into his eyes desperately to ground himself, and it works. “Out there, you are employing me. You pay me, I do what you say. I help you. I ignore your - how did you say - being  _ eccentric _ . Yes?”

Lex makes a noise through closed lips which could be interpreted as positive.

“In here, you do what I say. Otherwise you will not survive. Yes?”

“...if you think you can threaten me, haha….”

“I am not threatening you, I am telling you. I will protect you. Until you are able to protect yourself.”

“You think I can…?” The idea of defending himself properly, when every assailant takes on his father’s face, is a strange and frightening one.

“Yes.” Anatoli hooks his fingers into the grid above Lex’s head and towers over him. He smiles, and Lex doesn’t like it at all. “You seem like a crazy bitch. They will learn to leave you alone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because, to quote Bruce, 'the White Portuguese is not a man... it's a ship'.  
> (sorry)


End file.
